A Serial Bitstream Processor for Smart Sensor Systems

Abstract:

A full custom integrated circuit design of a serial bitstream processor is proposed for remote smart sensor systems. This dissertation describes details of the architectural exploration, circuit implementation, algorithm simulation, and testing results. The design is fabricated and demonstrated to be a successful working processor for basic algorithm functions. In addition, the energy performance of the processor, in terms of energy per operation, is evaluated. Compared to the multi-bit sensor processor, the proposed sensor processor provides improved energy efficiency for serial sensor data processing tasks, and also features low transistor count and area reduction advantages.

The processor can be programmed for sensor processing algorithms such as delta sigma processor, calibration, and self-test algorithms. It also can be modified to utilize Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer (CORDIC) algorithms. The applications of the proposed sensor processor include wearable or portable biomedical sensors for health care monitoring or autonomous environmental sensors.